Who is Vannevar Bush? See [Wikipedia article on V. Bush(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vannevar_Bush)
—_(rdhyee)_
My source note: @bushvannevarWeMayThink1945
Vannevar Bush[1]
tags:
links: Wikipedia Vannevar Bush annotation
Annotations are at the Web’s core.
—_(Shepazu)_
The process of tying two items together is the important thing.[1-1]
tags:
links: annotations Web standards
I love this early UX imagining of the linking/annotation process by Vannevar. What's notable here of course is that he suggested that creating links between things was a function that something visitors (trailblazers) could do. In a sense, to him the notion of a hypertext link, and a clickable annotation w/ two targets were mutually interchangeable ideas. Today, these are distinct. The idea that a visitor can do this, is only possible within the emerging idea of Open Annotation as we understand it now. It's why those of us exploring it are so excited about its potential.
—_(dwhly)_
When the user is building a trail, he names it, inserts the name in his code book, and taps it out on his keyboard. Before him are the two items to be joined, projected onto adjacent viewing positions[1-2]
tags:
links: OpenAnnotation
This quote:
"he names it, inserts the name in his code book ... the user tabs a single key, and the items are permanently joined"
makes me think of this as an early form of tagging.
—_(aculich)_
tags:
links: tagging annotations
The first reference to Wikipedia?! :)
First he runs through an encyclopedia, finds an interesting but sketchy article[1-4]
The essential feature of the memex is its ability of association; tying two items together.
—_(aculich)_
It affords an immediate step, however, to associative indexing, the basic idea of which is a provision whereby any item may be caused at will to select immediately and automatically another. This is the essential feature of the memex. The process of tying two items together is the important thing.[1-5]
tags:
links: memex associative indexing tagging association
With the advent of Google Docs we're finally moving away from the archaic indexing mentioned here. The filesystem metaphor was simple and dominated how everyone manages their data-- which extended into how we developed web content, as well.
The declaration that Hierarchical File Systems are Dead has led to better systems of tagging and search, but we're still far from where we need to be since there is still a heavy focus on the document as a whole instead of also the content within the document.
The linearity of printed books is even more treacherously entrenched in our minds than the classification systems used by libraries to store those books.
One day maybe we'll liberate every piece of content from every layer of its concentric cages: artificial systems of indexing, books, web pages, paragraphs, even sentences and words themselves. Only then will we be able to re-dress those thoughts automatically into those familiar and comforting forms that keep our thoughts caged.
The real heart of the matter of selection, however, goes deeper than a lag in the adoption of mechanisms by libraries, or a lack of development of devices for their use. Our ineptitude in getting at the record is largely caused by the artificiality of systems of indexing. When data of any sort are placed in storage, they are filed alphabetically or numerically, and information is found (when it is) by tracing it down from subclass to subclass. It can be in only one place, unless duplicates are used; one has to have rules as to which path will locate it, and the rules are cumbersome. Having found one item, moreover, one has to emerge from the system and re-enter on a new path. The human mind does not work that way. It operates by association. With one item in its grasp, it snaps instantly to the next that is suggested by the association of thoughts, in accordance with some intricate web of trails carried by the cells of the brain. It has other characteristics, of course; trails that are not frequently followed are prone to fade, items are not fully permanent, memory is transitory. Yet the speed of action, the intricacy of trails, the detail of mental pictures, is awe-inspiring beyond all else in nature.[1-6]
Selection by association, rather than indexing.
—_(aculich)_
Man cannot hope fully to duplicate this mental process artificially, but he certainly ought to be able to learn from it. In minor ways he may even improve, for his records have relative permanency. The first idea, however, to be drawn from the analogy concerns selection. Selection by association, rather than indexing, may yet be mechanized. One cannot hope thus to equal the speed and flexibility with which the mind follows an associative trail, but it should be possible to beat the mind decisively in regard to the permanence and clarity of the items resurrected from storage.[1-7]
tags:
links: tagging selection by association association human mind
Definitely sounds like what we're doing here.
—_(tilgovi)_
Science has provided the swiftest communication between individuals; it has provided a record of ideas and has enabled man to manipulate and to make extracts from that record so that knowledge evolves and endures throughout the life of a race rather than that of an individual.[1-8]
tags:
links:
Although, I rarely call myself a "scientist"?
—_(tilgovi)_
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links:
Yeah! And for our next trick...
—_(tilgovi)_
tags:
links:
The correct form of the above link:
Wikipedia article on V. Bush
—_(csillag)_
tags:
links:
the atomic bomb, among others.
—_(edsu)_
strange destructive gadgets[1-12]
tags:
links: bush:1945
The now familiar information overload.
—_(edsu)_
But there is increased evidence that
we are being bogged down today as specialization extends.[1-13]
tags:
links: bush:1945
This makes me wonder if that's where we still are. Connecting documents/information with people when they need it is still a huge challenge. Although being able to go to Google to ask a question on your phone is a huge advantage for those who have questions that are amenable and the device to ask it.
—_(edsu)_
publication has
been extended far beyond our present ability to make real use of the record[1-14]
tags:
links: bush:1945
Valuable ideas often appear before they are viable. But they must be discoverable when the environment changes in ways that make the idea more tractable.
—_(edsu)_
A record if it is to be useful to science, must be continuously extended, it
must be stored, and above all it must be consulted.[1-15]
tags:
links: bush:1945
It would be, and is!
—_(edsu)_
Often it would be
advantageous to be able to snap the camera and to look at the picture
immediately.[1-16]
tags:
links: bush:1945
Is it even possible to think what this factor is for today's digital storage technologies?
—_(edsu)_
Today, with microfilm, reductions by a
linear factor of 20 can be employed and still produce full clarity when the
material is re-enlarged for examination.[1-17]
tags:
links: bush:1945
So true.
—_(edsu)_
Even the
modern great library is not generally consulted; it is nibbled at by a few.[1-18]
tags:
links:
Some people do this now, but they seem to be a minority.
—_(edsu)_
will the author of the future cease writing by hand or typewriter
and talk directly to the record?[1-19]
tags:
links: bush:1945
Ouch. C'mon Vannevar!
—_(edsu)_
girl[1-20]
tags:
links: bush:1945
Dude, stop it already!
—_(edsu)_
A girl strokes its keys languidly [1-21]
tags:
links: bush:1945
This distinction seems particularly significant.
—_(edsu)_
But creative thought and
essentially repetitive thought are very different things.[1-22]
tags:
links: bush:1945
It's very strange how humans, or "girls" are essentially made part of the machine here.
—_(edsu)_
One
of them will take instructions and data from a whole roomful of girls armed
with simple key board punches, and will deliver sheets of computed results
every few minutes. [1-23]
tags:
links:
The use of logic here is also interesting. Is knowledge actually grounded in logic? Didn't Wittgenstein free us of this delusion?
—_(edsu)_
Whenever logical processes of thought are employed—that is,
whenever thought for a time runs along an accepted groove—there is an
opportunity for the machine.[1-24]
tags:
links: bush:1945
Isn't the association a type of index though, really?
—_(edsu)_
Selection by association, rather than
indexing, may yet be mechanized. [1-25]
tags:
links:
Not a bad user story, all things considered.
—_(edsu)_
It consists of a desk, and while it can presumably be operated from a distance,
it is primarily the piece of furniture at which he works. On the top are
slanting translucent screens, on which material can be projected for convenient
reading. There is a keyboard, and sets of buttons and levers. Otherwise it
looks like an ordinary desk.[1-26]
tags:
links: bush:1945
Is that an annotation or a link he is describing here?
—_(edsu)_
tags:
links:
Haha -- sketchy!
—_(edsu)_
tags:
links:
So it's not just limited to the individual, but you can see other people's trails. It is social. This seems like a key insight as well.
—_(edsu)_
The lawyer has at his touch the associated opinions and
decisions of his whole experience, and of the experience of friends and
authorities. [1-29]
tags:
links: bush:1945
Who would, or who should? Who gets to decide how we reshape humanity? The masters of war?
—_(edsu)_
but who would now place bounds on where such a thing
may lead?[1-30]
tags:
links: bush:1945
Who will perform those computations? Those in power presumably?
—_(edsu)_
There will always be plenty of things to compute in the
detailed affairs of millions of people doing complicated things.[1-31]
tags:
links: bush:1945
But perhaps the current "war" on disease does require them to leave the old paths.
—_(memartone)_
For the biologists, and particularly for the medical scientists, there can be
little indecision, for their war has hardly required them to leave the old
paths[1-32]
tags:
links: Quote
But now we really are bogged down by specialization. Honest. But somehow we progress anyway.
—_(memartone)_
The investigator is
staggered by the findings and conclusions of thousands of other
workers—conclusions which he cannot find time to grasp, much less to remember, as they appear.[1-33]
tags:
links:
And in 2015, they are now another generation older. Or is it two? But now we are in a position to do something about it. FORCE11 Manifesto
—_(memartone)_
Professionally our methods of transmitting and reviewing the results of
research are generations old and by now are totally inadequate for their
purpose.[1-34]
tags:
links:
But assuming we can tell what is inconsequential and what is significant without the passage of time is a little arrogant.
—_(memartone)_
as truly significant
attainments become lost in the mass of the inconsequential[1-35]
tags:
links:
It's the blazing of these "associative trails" that for me is the great potential of hypothes.is. But the cairns need to be better discoverable. If it weren't for Twitter I would never have returned to this document today. Hypothesis needs to have its own amplification systems. #letmefollowthispage
—_(jeremydean)_
Wholly new forms of encyclopedias will appear, ready made with a mesh of associative trails running through them, ready to be dropped into the memex and there amplified.[1-36]
tags:
links:
It kind of blows me mind that the end of WWII is the context for these early dreams of the Internet. Is it the hope experienced in patriotic collaboration toward technological innovation? That's what Bush seems to acknowledge explicitly. It's a techno-militaristic union that haunts us to this day (#prism). But I wonder too if it's the precarious of knowledge, or perhaps the destructiveness of knowledge, that also inspires Bush...
—_(jeremydean)_
This has not been a scientist's war; it has been a war in which all have had a part.[1-37]
tags:
links:
This is something we have to keep in mind when developing technology, particularly in academia. It's not just the technology, but whether it can be put into production in a cost effective and useful manner. And just because the time is not right now, doesn't mean that as capacities change, it can't be done eventually.
—_(memartone)_
Two centuries ago Leibnitz invented a calculating machine which embodied most
of the essential features of recent keyboard devices, but it could not then
come into use. The economics of the situation were against it: the labor
involved in constructing it, before the days of mass production, exceeded the
labor to be saved by its use, since all it could accomplish could be duplicated
by sufficient use of pencil and paper. Moreover, it would have been subject to
frequent breakdown, so that it could not have been depended upon; for at that
time and long after, complexity and unreliability were synonymous.[1-38]
tags:
links: quote
Did not imagine digital but other predictions are not bad.
—_(memartone)_
There is film in the walnut for a hundred exposures, and
the spring for operating its shutter and shifting its film is wound once for
all when the film clip is inserted.[1-39]
tags:
links:
Google glass?
—_(memartone)_
glasses is a square of fine lines[1-40]
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Particularly in the modern age of sensors. Sorry "girls".
—_(memartone)_
here will always be plenty of things to compute in the
detailed affairs of millions of people doing complicated things[1-41]
tags:
links:
We're still trying to standardize information and concepts so we can do this comprehensively. It is conceptually simple but difficult in practice, at least with current technologies.
—_(memartone)_
The personnel officer of a factory drops a stack of
a few thousand employee cards into a selecting machine, sets a code in
accordance with an established convention, and produces in a short time a list
of all employees who live in Trenton and know Spanish.[1-42]
tags:
links:
See Wikipedia article on the speech given by Ralph Waldo Emerson.
—_(nichtich)_
Emerson's famous address of 1837 on "The American Scholar,"[1-43]
tags:
links: wikpedia
Vannevar's humanitarian optimism carried forward through Licklider, Engelbart, and others for a generation beyond him - why has it faded from attention in today's computing world?
—_(windham)_
perfection of these pacific instruments[1-44]
tags:
links:
Agreed. I just found this today via @holden and his Garden and Stream presentation. Been thinking about H and how there is no way to really organize my annotations outside of tags. How do we start to think about connecting all of the artifacts I've collected and annotated that aren't far off from what Bush predicts here? @holden's Federated wiki concept is right on, but maybe too clunky/complex for average joe or student. It helps me to think of H tags as grounding points in a mind map of sorts. Or world clouds with all kinds of different connections. I can visualize that... zoom in and out of the multiple layers of connections I've made between tags...
—_(otterscotter)_
tags:
links: hypothes.is holden bush
Which he had no small part in! It feels like he's trying to distance him self from his own involvement here.
—_(dwhly)_
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links:
The same was true for Mosaic and its original browser-based annotation feature. There wasn't funding for it.
—_(jeremydean)_
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LOL.
—_(jeremydean)_
tags:
links:
Here's some audio of the voder:
Voder[1-49]
tags:
links: bush:1945
Is this the point at which the kind of annotation imagined by Bush becomes social? Where one person's trail of associations becomes useful to another?
—_(jeremydean)_
Wholly new forms of encyclopedias will appear, ready made with a mesh of
associative trails running through them, ready to be dropped into the memex and
there amplified.[1-50]
tags:
links:
Really does sound like the networked PC.
—_(jeremydean)_
A memex is a device in which an individual stores all his books, records, and communications, and which is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility. It is an enlarged intimate supplement to his memory.[1-51]
tags:
links:
Boom!
—_(jeremydean)_
He can
add marginal notes and comments[1-52]
tags:
links:
What's missing here is the power of peer to peer sharing of such scaffolding. It doesn't need to be only "master to disciple."
—_(jeremydean)_
There is a new profession of trail blazers, those who find delight in the task
of establishing useful trails through the enormous mass of the common record.
The inheritance from the master becomes, not only his additions to the world's
record, but for his disciples the entire scaffolding by which they were
erected.[1-53]
tags:
links:
Yeah, he doesn't theorize the social enough here. And when he does, it's not peer to peer, it's this "master-disciple" relation.
—_(jeremydean)_
tags:
links:
So, yeah, he's talking about hyperlinks and annotations as two separate aspects of the memex.
—_(jeremydean)_
Occasionally he
inserts a comment of his own, either linking it into the main trail or joining
it by a side trail to a particular item.[1-55]
tags:
links:
yeah, i think you're right. though he does mention taking notes on both sides of the hyperlink.
—_(jeremydean)_
tags:
links:
Wow. In 2016, we're thinking about a decentralized implementation.
—_(dwhly)_
A memex is a device in which an individual stores all his books, records, and communications, and which is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility. It is an enlarged intimate supplement to his memory.[1-57]
tags:
links:
quite similar to a go pro today
Let us project this trend
ahead to a logical, if not inevitable, outcome. The camera hound of the future
wears on his forehead a lump a little larger than a walnut. It takes pictures 3
millimeters square, later to be projected or enlarged, which after all involves
only a factor of 10 beyond present practice. The lens is of universal focus,
down to any distance accommodated by the unaided eye, simply because it is of
short focal length.[1-58]
tags:
links:
And here I am, commenting on this article online where other people can see it instantly. Pretty neat
—_(behnk100)_
Science has provided the swiftest communication between individuals; it has
provided a record of ideas and has enabled man to manipulate and to make
extracts from that record so that knowledge evolves and endures throughout the
life of a race rather than that of an individual.[1-59]
tags:
links:
And now that our species has unlimited information within magic rectangles that live in our pockets, we spend most of our time staring with blank faces at videos and pictures of other people doing things
—_(behnk100)_
and something is bound to come of it.[1-60]
tags:
links:
iPhone seven!!!
—_(behnk100)_
two spaced glass eyes[1-61]
tags:
links:
thankful for autocorrect, or at least underliningg <-- in red when I typed it
—_(behnk100)_
digestion and correction[1-62]
tags:
links:
I think he'd be interested in learning excel
—_(behnk100)_
relegated to the machine.[1-63]
tags:
links:
Something used against us in internet advertisements
—_(behnk100)_
With one
item in its grasp, it snaps instantly to the next that is suggested by the
association of thoughts, in accordance with some intricate web of trails
carried by the cells of the brain[1-64]
tags:
links:
I think thatis crazy. It is so easy for us to document what we are thinking, whether we are keeping it for ourselves or making it public. Without something like Mendel's concept of genetics we can only ask "what if?' when that could have beena missing piece in someone's research.
—_(amacaran)_
Mendel's concept of the laws of
genetics was lost to the world for a generation because his publication did not
reach the few who were capable of grasping and extending it; and this sort of
catastrophe is undoubtedly being repeated all about us[1-65]
tags:
links: ds106
We really have a wealth of knowledge at our fingertips that is untapped. Quite ironic.
—_(amacaran)_
tags:
links: ds106
That is done now. All we need are keywords typed in a search engine, and we will find a lot about the subject a click away.
—_(amacaran)_
Mere compression, of
course, is not enough; one needs not only to make and store a record but also
be able to consult it, and this aspect of the matter comes later. [1-67]
tags:
links: ds106
The internet has plenty of things that are not real or that are manipulated, It is up to us to do research.
—_(amacaran)_
the creative aspect of thinking is concerned only with the selection of the data and the process to be employed and the manipulation thereafter is repetitive in nature and hence a fit matter to be relegated to the machine.[1-68]
tags:
links: ds106
New technology is always developing and growing so rapidly, part of the reason "complex devices" can now be cheap
—_(elizabeth.siranosian)_
The world has arrived at an age of cheap
complex devices of great reliability; and something is bound to come of it.[1-69]